Indigo Christmas

June 30, 2008
Hilda Johansson Cavanaugh finds herself caught between the world of her past as a housemaid and her new role as a wealthy wife in Agatha-winner Dams's delightful sixth mystery set in early 20th-century South Bend, Ind. (after 2005's Crimson Snow
). When Hilda's only friend's husband is accused of stealing, arson and murder, Hilda determines to prove him innocent. Meanwhile, as part of her efforts to belong to society, Hilda joins a group of well-to-do members of the community in creating a Christmas party for street boys, some of whom she hires to help in her investigation. The mystery, which evolves naturally and slowly, tends to get lost amid the subtle and sometimes not so subtle social commentary on such matters as the friction between Hilda's Swedish Lutheran family and her husband's Irish Catholic relatives. Still, series fans will be well satisfied.

August 15, 2008
It's Christmas 1904 in South Bend, IN, and former housemaid Hilda Cavanaugh ne Johansson ("Crimson Snow") is struggling to adjust to her new social status as a wealthy woman married to a respected businessman. When an old friend is arrested for murder and his wife gives birth in Hilda's home, she must find new ways to investigate the crime. Dam's leisurely paced cozy will appeal to readers who enjoy a bit of mystery mixed in with a serving of family life. Agatha Award winner Dams is the author of five other Hilda Johansson novels and nine books featuring Dorothy Martin.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2008
The Hilda Johansson series hasnt been running long enough to need a reboot (this is only the sixth installment), but the author shakes things up a little anyway, keeping the series fresh and offering readers a look at Hilda and her environment (South Bend, Indiana, in the early 1900s) from a new angle. The husband of one of Hildas closest friends is under suspicion of murder, and Hilda would dearly like to help out . . . but she is not sure she can. Hildas married now, mistress of her own house, no longer a maidand, to her great consternation, cut off from her usual sources of information: shopkeepers, household staff, and so forth. Luckily, Hildas a resourceful woman, and she soon comes up with an ingenious solution to her investigative problem, one that will, not to give too much away, be of particular interest to Sherlock Holmes fans. The novel has a suspenseful story, but, as usual, its the characters and setting (rendered in precise but not obtrusive detail) that really capture our interest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)